Breaking bars: The real story behind Sing Sing

At a glance

• The impetus of Sing Sing

• The synopsis

• Clarence Maclin on time served and seeking redemption

• Casting Colman Domingo

Led by nominee Colman Domingo, the film stars an unforgettable ensemble of formerly incarcerated actors from New York’s infamous maximum security prison, whose lives have been indelibly altered by the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program (RTA).

Inspired by a 2005 Esquire article, “The Sing Sing Follies”, about an original, time-travelling musical comedy, entitled Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code, that the men at Sing Sing wrote and staged through RTA, director Greg Kwedar found the facts behind the story irresistible. 

The biggest shocker was that while the national rate for prisoners returning to incarceration was over 60%, less than 5% of RTA graduates ever returned to prison.

Embarking on an eight-year odyssey to bring this story to the big screen, Kwedar does it in a profound way that never resorts to hokeyness, and yet is guaranteed to leave you in tears.

Domingo portrays John “Divine G” Whitfield, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, a man who finds purpose within a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men and encouraging newcomer Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin - who plays himself in the film.

Indeed, there are few professional actors in Sing Sing, most of the cast comprising real-life RTA graduates, all grateful for their freedom and eager to give back.

STACK has met with Maclin several times, and there can be no doubt that this is a man for whom the arts has been his saviour.

“We need you to think of us the way we are, not the way the mainstream would like you to believe us. Because in prison, we don't watch prison movies! So, I would never even consider this a prison movie. It just happened to take place in prison,” he argues.

“But this is a more human story. It's about humanity. It's about growing up. It's about being accountable. It's about being a community, about being that for real, not just faking like you gangster,” says Maclin whose broad gap-toothed smile and infectious laughter have melted hearts and minds.

In real life, he was one of the most feared men at Sing Sing, a self-professed “yard bandit” who made a reputation for himself by extorting money from other members of the prison population. 

He happened upon RTA purely by chance. One day, he was supposed to collect money from someone in the yard, but pouring rain changed their meet-up to the prison chapel, where RTA was putting on a play. “I’m down there, I get my money - and I can’t leave, because I gotta stay for the duration,” he recalls. 

“There are prisoners up there, acting, as well as people from the outside. And there was a lot of women up on that stage, too. I wanted to be around some of the women!” 

But, more importantly, he says, “I could see guys up on this stage, with the freedom to express themselves, the way they want to. In population, we’re not free to do that. You have to keep your emotions guarded. You can’t let nobody see you crying or acting ‘weak’ in prison. But up on stage, it’s a different story. This is entertainment. I’m allowed to do it up there.” 

He immediately signed on. After a probationary period that included keeping his record clear of infractions for a year, he was eventually accepted into the RTA program. 

“By this time, the gangster aspect of prison started getting boring to me. There was no more challenges in selling drugs, extorting people,” he says. “There was only one or two dudes in the whole program that I even respected. To me, a lot of these dudes were soft.

"But soon, I started seeing that these guys had kids, like me, too, on the outside. They got a mother that cares about them, like my mother cares about me,” he says.

But the film needed a star - and Domingo had already expressed interest. However, he only had a few days to spare between shooting Rustin and The Color Purple, and didn’t feel he had the time to do Sing Sing justice. 

His co-stars refused to accept it, and he swiftly bowed to the collective force of enthusiasm. 

“There were so many ‘yeses’. And I think it's because at the centre, these guys were willing to do the work. So who am I to say no? So we all leaned into that and we filmed it 18 days,” says the award-winning Euphoria actor, who even agreed to a novel new business model which saw every actor and crew member paid the same.